One of the most frequent questions is, "We were told that November is an excellent time to visit the Park; is this weather unusual? How long will it last?" When I respond, "Two days ago, when I clicked on the weather on the Internet here, it indicated that we had 0% change of precipitation, but the visitors to whom I gave that answer frowned when they walked out to the parking lot in rain," they look at me like I'm some kind of incompetent. They then say, "You're a volunteer, aren't you!"
Well, yes I am, but the honest-to-God Rangers as well as the volunteers with more experience than we have haven't the slightest hint of more expertise than we have on this subject.
What was going on when we arrived in late October in a light rain has only gotten more so. Yes, September and October are the wet months in the southwest Texas desert, but rain on in to November is a real exception. A week ago it was 98 degrees on the Visitor Center porch, but Saturday of this week, it was a drippy and dreary 37 degrees.
I usually grin from ear to ear when I tell folks that we come down here because this is the best place to spend a winter in Ohio. Some of the charm has been washed off that cleverness. In fact, when it was so cold and wet on Saturday, I cancelled the adobe demonstration, not that anyone would have shown up in any event, but in case one or two did, I had no intention of mixing horse manure, clay and cold water, by hand, and blathering on about 'green construction' in arid climates in a hoddie and fleece jacket.
We spent yesterday, Sunday, running around the apartment, cozy in our slippers and sweats, reading a bit, napping and lazily working on the transcription of an oral history interview. The Oral History Project is what we are to spend one day each week working on, but we don't sit for eight hours at a time listening and transcribing. We dribble the task out to relieve the tedium of it.
One of the busiest times in the Park is Thanksgiving weekend, so after these few days off, the rest of the week will probably not be so quiet. Since we are scheduled to work in the Visitor Center each Thursday, Friday and Saturday, this year none of the holidays are leisure times for us. Thanksgiving Evening, the Ranger who coordinates volunteers is hosting dinner for all of us. She plans to bake the bird and the rest of us will bring the sides-dishes and desserts.
It has nothing to do with anything but as I typed that last word in that previous sentence, I remembered that 'stressed' spelled backward is 'desserts.'
Hope y'all have a pleasant Thanksgiving!
PS-
Electricity just went off as I'm finishing this blog. Will have to publish it later this afternoon. It is not unusual to lose power for short periods- winds I guess play heck with power lines.
Someone told me that making a comment was difficult, so I'm trying it out; so far, comments seem to work.
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